Even Better Than Beta
For: The Beauty of Tomatoes, April 2002
Lycopene, a member of the carotenoid family, is a
vitamin-like substance abundant in tomatoes that makes them red.
Recent research, some of it presented in April at an international
symposium in New York City, suggests that it's an even more
potent antioxidant than beta carotene, its better known cousin,
and that it may help prevent cancer, notably of the prostate, and
cardiovascular disease. Here are some lycopene facts:
• Population studies suggest that people who consume lots of lycopene-rich foods have a lower risk of not only prostate cancer, but also cancer of the cervix, skin, bladder, breast, lung, and digestive tract. It has also been found to prevent cancer in animals.
• Lycopene may reduce the risk of cancer in several ways. For instance, it seems to stimulate the immune system to battle cancer cells. As an antioxidant, it helps block the destructive effects of free radicals in the body, especially when there's enough vitamin E around. It interferes with "growth factors" that stimulate cancer.
• It may help protect LDL ("bad") cholesterol from oxidation, and thus may lower the risk of coronary artery disease.
• About 85% of the lycopene in the U.S. diet comes from tomatoes and tomato products. Watermelon, pink grapefruit, papaya, and guava also have small amounts.
• Ounce for ounce, processed tomato products (such as sauce, purée, juice, or even catsup) or cooked tomatoes contain 2 to 8 times as much available lycopene as raw tomatoes. Processing makes lycopene more available and more easily absorbed by the body.
• Lycopene is fat-soluble, so you absorb more of it when you eat a little fat in the same meal with your tomato—perhaps a little olive oil or cheese.
• Deep red tomatoes have more lycopene than pale ones or yellow or green ones. Vine-ripened tomatoes have more than those picked green and allowed to ripen later. And those grown outdoors in the summer have more lycopene than tomatoes grown in greenhouses.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, September 2001
